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| no partners | | 2-26 to 3/1, but all relevant water reports from 2-27. We hiked in mid afternoon on the 26th, dayhiked up to Swapp junction on the 27th, then poked around slowly on our way back 28th & 1st.
We parked off the highway and just went down Warm Springs wash. Simple easy gravel - far better than fine sand or boulders. Added maybe an hour and 15 min or so? We weren't sure about precip on the last day and the naile canyon road has some clay sections. Saw a 4x4 pickup at the TH coming out. Dayhikers shocked to see us and asked if we were thru-hiking and wanted to see the upside down pineapple people.
This was before the latest round of storms, so a useful drought read of water sources.
Water
The guzzler by stone house looked solid but we didn't hop the fence and had no need for it. It's not there for us anyways.
Table Spring (really a seep, not a spring) was great due to the concrete troughs. The lower one was a little low and gross, but the top one was clear.
A few seeps upstream and one small water pocket, but the concrete troughs are a better choice.
One small water pocket in a short pourover canyon on the N, the pool above it was dry. A bit tannic and non-ideal but not awful.
A lot of cowboy arch near Pigeon - we were expecting more water for all the effort but found a cut in half basketball's amount of water in a pool with no visible movement. I guess that's why they built it up!
Now if you had to guess if Table, Pigeon, or Willow had the most water and you guessed Willow you'd be right! If you drink Pigeons please seek help.
An actual spring for once. Willow had shallow but quick flow and some actual solid lines of drip coming down off of moss. The actual source is a bit hard to get to, up a slimy shelf of unknown strength or a lot of steep up n down dropping in from the side but you can fill up just below the shelf. Not as much cowboy stuff here, a rusty trough well off to the side and then a little ladder/trellis and pipe up high on the hill. I guess it wasn't necessary.
A pot or nalgene under the drip would work, but something widemouthed (CNOC or Osprey bladder etc) for the flow would be better.
We skipped Wildband on the way back up, but didn't see anything flowing. The ground is THIRSTY though and nothing really flows for any length. Seems like a simple bypass climbers right to get up to it, and perhaps a game trail going up it.
A few seeps here past Pigeon that didn't seem promising along canyon walls.
Kelsey Guide
The author repeatedly lets you know he passed through here at more than 2mph and it shows. His ruins are granaries, his 2 granaries are more like 8-9, his cave + PET is one side canyon too far upcanyon, and he missed a ton of panels. FWIW the first few use trails after the alcove with petroglyphs aren't great but closer to table rock they're all worth visiting.
Trail
It weakens once you get past table rock, and we lost it a few times heading downstream. Coming back up we followed it better. It's a little overgrown but mostly just gets lost at crossings and when it is just above the main creek. It wouldn't take a ton of trail work to make it clearer, but it's simple terrain that isn't traveled much. When you're back on it it's pretty easy to follow, but the grasses and bushes around it make it hard to find once you're off it.
Trail never goes down the wash for any real amount of time, it just crosses over to the other side. At times it's tempting to walk down it (we did!) but eventually you'll hit a snarl of tumbleweed. It all works. OSM based trail position was surprisingly good for something this old / less used.
Misc Notes
Lots of vandalism from when it was a 4WD road, but they didn't stray too far. A decent amount of historical "inscriptions" including from the families of Swapp, Judd, Naile, and some others I can't place (M. Averett, F.S. Brown) to nearby landmarks.
A lot less arch downstream of table rock, but the canyon gets more interesting, so it's a decent trade off.
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
A few purple flowers here and there. |
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Pigeon Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | No visible movement, half basketball of clear water. |
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Table Rock Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Deep clear trough of water. Technically dripping. |
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Willow Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| | | More than a quart a minute, but prob not a gallon and hardish to pickup. | | | |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
We should all be grateful that our predecessors had the courage and foresight to preserve areas such as this.
